Courage
by file- DS
Summary: When Red is leaving for a far away region, can Yellow say what needs to be said? What will happen to them, and more importantly, how will it change Yellow?
1. Heart broken

_Okay, I could not wait to start this. It's kinda like a sequel to 'A Bit of a Mind Game' (it takes place after it), but now we're on to special shipping! And this time, I've come prepared, I actually made a layout!_

_Before I start, I would just like to thank SpecialShipping19 for leaving a review on 'A Bit of a Mind Game' that inspired me to start this._

_Disclaimer: If you thought I owned pokémon, you were WRONG!_

Yellow stood at the front door of one of the houses in pallet town, her finger hovering an inch away from the doorbell. Red had invited her to his house. This would be their first time alone together. Sure they saw each other all the time, but that was always with Blue and Green too. Now, in her understanding, they would be together, she could finally tell him how she felt.

Her trembling finger came closer and closer to the bell. "-Hi Yellow!" Yellow jumped at the voice behind her. Turning around she saw Blue at the end of the walkway, her arm proudly wrapped around her boyfriend, Green's, shoulders. "Oh, hi guys", Yellow greeted back nervously smiling, "Did Red invite you two over too?" "Yeah. He said he had big news". Blue walk by Yellow and opened the door with a spare key that she'd _borrowed _a few years ago. The three of them entered the house and made themselves comfortable in the living room.

Yellow was conflicted. On one side she was relived that Green and Blue showed up and saved her from trying to tell Red the truth. On the other she was upset that she didn't have the chance now. She was working to pull up the courage to admit her true feelings, but now that chance was gone. 'Oh well', she thought, 'maybe next time'.

With a sigh she slumped onto a couch. "I'll get him", Green said going upstairs to find Red. Silence set upon the room. Blue, laying on a couch adjacent to Yellow, finally broke it, "So, are you gonna tell him?" "Wh-what?", Yellow was caught off guard. "Are you going to tell Red you love him?", Blue said through giggles at Yellows reaction. "How do you know?", Yellow shouted in a whisper, worried the boys on the second floor might hear them. "For someone who has the power to sense emotion, you're really bad at reading people", Blue smiled, "Green knows too. I think the only one who hasn't figured it out yet is Red", she giggled again at the delicious irony. Upstairs a shout could be heard coming from Green, "You invite us all over then you fall asleep!"

A few minutes later, Yellow, Blue, and Green are still waiting downstairs for Red to finally finish getting ready and tell them his apparent 'big news'. Yellow sat quietly as she twiddled her thumbs, thinking over her conversation with Blue. Green was impatiently pinching the bridge of his nose, wonder why he was best friends with such a imbecile. Blue had made her way to the kitchen and had begun to raid Red's refrigerator. "I found the chips!", she shouted as if they were a long lost treasure. When she came back into the living room she handed out drinks; a diet coke for herself, a glass of water for Yellow, and milk in a child's cup dotted with horsy for Green (he was not amused). As she sat down, footsteps were heard from upstairs, and soon Red finally made his arrival into the room.

Red took a seat on the other end of the couch Yellow was on, and everyone went quiet in anticipation of his 'big news'. "Well, I'm leaving", Red broke the silence. "No!", Green reacted, "we've been waiting for this news, your telling us now!" "That is the news. I'm leaving tomorrow". Everyone was taken back. A deep silence fell, so deep that each tick of a clock in the next room could be heard like a zapdos' thunder.

Green was the first to speak, "Where are you going?", even he, the unfaltering, tough and resolute Green, was somewhat stunned but what Red had said. "Apparently new pokémon have recently been found in the Siena region, and Professor Oak asked me to go through the region to help plan new gyms and help with the research". "You're leaving tomorrow!", Blue, usually so and composed, blurted out as she finally caught up with her shock. "Yeah, I'm taking a boat from Vermillion".

The rest of the night was spent all over the place; talking about the Siena region, what Red would be doing, reminiscing, and finally just hanging out. Yellow remained nearly perfectly silent through the whole thing. She wasn't sure what to say, she was terrified. The next morning the boy she loved would be leaving for two years. Who would he be when he got back? Who would she be? Would he meet another girl on his trip? How would she live without his friendship? Everything was a blur to her. Her mind drifted from one thing to the next, only rarely skimming the conversations going on. The only way to say how she truly felt at that moment was terrified. She was absolutely terrified.

The night came to a close, and Blue and Green left around 11:45pm, leaving just Yellow and Red. This was her chance, tell him how she felt, beg him to stay, plead for his companionship. Red came back to the living room after closing the door behind Green and Blue. Yellow stood up to talk to him, "Red", she started, "I…", she struggled to say the words, "it's just", the slightest blush began to form on her cheeks, "I'll miss you". That was all she said, she couldn't get it out. She was too panicked. "I'll miss you too", he replied with deep sincerity, "G'night, I'll see you tomorrow". And with that Yellow just nodded and walked out.

As soon as she made it back to her home, in Viridian, she stopped holding back. After all that had happened she was sad, lonely, heart broken, but in too much shock to let it out. Now she was finished with that, far from Pallet, and in too much pain to bear. She broke down, collapsing into tears on the hallway floor. Letting it all out, all the pain, all the ache, all the grief, everything. She continued to cry, she'd lost all track of time, she just cried on, until she fall to a nightmarish sleep, in a pool of tears.

_I really can't say much here, just please review and give me your thoughts. I hope you enjoyed reading this first chapter. I really got into it and did my best. Thanks._


	2. goodbye I love you

_Okay, it feels like I haven't written in forever! Anyway, I'm already moving on to the second chapter, so here we go._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon special, if I did, the she shippings would be used way more._

Yellow woke in a daze. She found herself on the floor of the living room in a pool of dried tears. The tears reminded her of her sadness the night before. Of Red's announcement. Of her own fear to tell the truth. And of the loss.

Today was the day he was leaving, and everybody was going to be there with him. Yellow looked over to the Pikachu clock and saw the time, 10:23am. She had to be in pallet town by 11:00. Wiping the dried tears from here face, she grabbed her hat, which had been dropped on the floor a few feet away. She grabbed her pokeballs from their scattered positions across the room, and ran out the front door.

"Hey, you were almost late. We're about to leave", Blue was the first to notice Yellow running toward the group consisting of the first three dex holders. "Sorry, I slept in", she apologized as she neared the group. Red stepped forward from behind Blue, "Hi Yel-" he was cut off by Yellow as she tried to stop, but was going too fast and ran directly into him. The two stumbled to their feet. Once Red was standing again he put his hand out to Yellow, offering to help her. She looked up and saw him from where she was still fallen and a blush started to creep on her face. She ignored his hand and got up, doing her best to hide the redness of her checks. "You okay?" he asked her. She pulled her hat down to cover her face as she weakly replied, "Yes".

The next few minutes were spent making sure everything was ready for Red's trip. He insisted he's remembered to bring everything, but sure enough, after a few second of check, Green found that Red had forgotten his boat ticket. Once everything was finally in order, Green let charizard out of its pokeball, they all took off.

The trip to Vermillion wasn't too long, but it was long enough for Yellow to have to spend most of it hiding next to Blue after constant blushing around Red. The talk among the group was nonstop. No one wanted to have any time to think, or realize that this was their last day all together. Once Red left the entire group would fall apart. Sure, they would all still be friends, but Blue and Green would always be together. And even the dex holders from other regions wouldn't have as much reason to visit. Yellow tried her best to keep her mind off all that, but the only thing she could distract herself from it was the thought of never seeing Red again. She loved him, and this would be their last day together, and she was too nervous to even sit near him, let alone tell him the truth. He was going to leave, and she was too scared to stop him.

"We're here", Blue's unusually calm voice broke Yellow away from her terrors. Looking around her, Yellow recognized to large city of Vermillion, rebuilt after her encounter with Lance (I'm not sure if she's seen it since then, I'm working with the Viz Kidz translations). They all hopped off, and Green returned his fire dragon pokemon. Less than a hundred meters from the dock, Red's boat was already boarding its last passengers.

They all stared at the massive ship, silence falling as they realized what was next. The usually quiet Green was the first to speak, "Well, I guess this is goodbye"… Red turned, his usually goofy smile replace by a simpler, more sincere one, "I've got one more thing for you guys", he reached for the pokeballs on his belt and took three of them off, "since I'm going to a new region, I thought I'd catch new pokemon to use there. I've already left most of mine with professor oak, and Gara to Misty, and fearow to Bill, but I want to give you guys Poli, Saur, and Pika". The faces of his friends lit up, they would at least have something with them for two years while Red was gone.

Red walked up to Green first and put the pokeball containing Saur in his hand, "when I get back, first thing I do is challenging your gym". The two best friends smiled at each other as the shock hands goodbye. Next, Red turned to Blue and handed her Poli's pokeball, "don't annoy Green _too_ much", he said, and after some thinking added, "and don't like, dress Poli up or anything". Blue just gave a short laugh as tears began to form in her eyes. Finally he turned to Yellow, "I'm really going to miss you, I don't know how I'll survive out there alone". He held out his last pokeball to her, inside of which Pika sat, looking at Yellow, and feeling her sorrow, they would both miss Red. She weakly lifted her arms to grip the little yellow mouse's pokeball. She grasped in and attached it to her belt with her other pokemon. She struggled to get out her goodbye, but before she could, Red leaned in and kissed her cheek, "Goodbye Yellow de Viridian Grove". And with those last words, leaving Yellow on the verge of breaking down into a puddle of tears and sorrow, he turned and headed to the boat. Not a sound was made as Green, Blue, and Yellow all watched their best friend, or in some cases secret crush, walked away, leaving them for two years. He turned and waved one last time, then walked onto the boat, and left.

As the group watched the boat leave a dark atmosphere dropped around them. Yellow, just barely holding back her emotions finally sheds a tear. Then another. And another. Slowly, a pool of sadness forms at her feet, growing larger the further the boat goes, until it finally disappears into the setting sun. As soon as it was out of sight, Yellow dropped the sad face, forgot about it to be replaced with an utterly miserable one. She broke, weeping and ran. Ran away from the city, leaving through the north entrance, not that she cared where she was going. Blue and Green were calling her back, but their voices were little more importance to her then the leaves she stepped on as she ran. And she didn't stop.


	3. Help me

_Okay, let's just get to the story_

_Disclaimer: I don't own poke spec, if I did, well let's just say Red would be a little less naive, and Yellow would much happier ;)_

_Hobby ho, and so we go._

Tears were littered on the tall grass of route 6, to the paved streets of Saffron City, to the dirt paths or route 5, and finally into Cerulean City, where a girl in a straw hat still ran, tears falling down her face, blinding her of direction, or logic. All the tears did was speaking to her, each one saying 'keep going', or 'don't stop running'. Nothing too harsh, but every once in a while, one tear, as it dropped from her eyes would say the words, 'he's never coming back'. This one tear was the strongest, and all the others that told her to run only reinforced it.

Her gentle footsteps thundered across the Nugget Bridge. Finally she stopped on the northern end of it. She looked around; to the right, Bill's old cottage; to the left, nothing. Bill's cottage, if she went there they'd find her, and try to help her 'deal' with Red leaving. But they didn't get it; Blue, maybe knew how Yellow felt, but they couldn't help. If she went left, freedom, not from the pain, but from dealing with it. Wonder, adventure, exploration. This was how she dealt with loss. Whenever she was sad, she'd usually go to Viridian Forest. Get lost in the trees, and let the loss be put aside for a while. It wasn't going to help her get past Red's leaving, but she wasn't thinking, she just wanted to push it away in that moment. Logic left her, and she went left.

"Oww!" She looked back to see she'd scrapped her ankle on a rock as she pulled herself up onto a ledge. A small flow of blood trickled from the cut. Blood, fine, as long as it's not tears. She released her butterfree from his pokeball, and had him use sting shot to make a bandage around the injury. "Thanks, Kitty", she said returning the butterfly pokemon, and continued to climb onto the next ledge.

Once she pulled herself up the next overhang, she saw something she didn't expect. In the side of the mountain that made up the left side of route 25 (well, I think its 25) there was a cave. In her current need for adventure, she ignored her usual better judgment, as it typically said 'go find Red for help', and stepped inside.

(okay, if your confused, because I know this wasn't written perfectly, Yellow has just entered cerulean cave while she was exploring, simple as that, and I know the entrance it to the south, but just pretend it isn't for a minute k? thx )

Drip. Drip. Drip. The sound echoed throughout the cave. A ditto sat by a rock. Yellow stepped further in. She wondered the cave for anywhere between a minute, and several hours. She found very little light on the deeper levels, and had to send Chu chu out to use flash. The entire adventure was new to her. This wasn't something she typically did; go exploring a dangerous place, stay away from her friends, say goodbye to Red.

She was just climbing down a ledge when her foot connected with the head of a sleeping geodude. It awoke and attacked, first grabbing her ankle and throwing her from the ledge. "Kitty, Psybeam!" she shouted, releasing her butterfree from its pokeball, once she had gotten to her feet. The attack knocked the geodude out in a single hit, but it awoke a group of its friends. Yellow was quickly on the run from a small army of geodude and graveler. "Kitty, use string shot!", she yelled without slowing down, "Make a web to stop them!" Kitty obeyed its master, and sent a burst of string out to trap all the charging pokemon.

"Good work", the Viridian trainer told her butterfree, "Now to see if I can calm them down". She used her powers and tried to sync her mind with those of the pokemon, 'My name is Yellow, Yellow de Viridian Grove. I'm sorry for my intrusion on your home, it was an accident. Please, if you forgive me and I will leave this place immediately'. She waited for them to calm down, but they didn't. She synced her mind with them again, and waited for a reply. But she couldn't hear one, in fact; she couldn't hear their thoughts at all. 'Please, calm down', she tried to talk to the again, and still no reply. She turned to Kitty, 'why aren't they doing anything?' she attempted to communicate with her own pokemon. Kitty did not respond, it simply fluttered in place as if it never heard her. "What's wrong with my powers…?" Yellow said to herself, tears again beginning to drip down her checks.

*CRASH!*, Yellow looked back up at the web to see an onix, not far away, charging toward its fellow rock/ ground types. "The string shot won't be able to hold that back! We have to run!", She screamed, as she did a 180, and sprinted the other way.

The enormous rock-snake ripped through the web, and soon al the pokemon were back to chasing the young trainer. The longer the race went, the deeper into the cave they were. Finally Yellow lost her balance and fell to the floor of the cave. 'Please, help! Please hear me!', she thought, hoping some pokemon, any pokemon would pick up her signal. There was a bright light, and all of sudden, Pika was free from its pokeball. Yellow looked at the mouse pokemon, 'can you hear me?' she tried to communicate with it. Pika nodded. Yellow smiled a bit, knowing her powers still worked, at least on Pika. 'Use flash, then substitute!'. In half a second, a bright light blinded the wild pokemon, and once the light faded, the pokemon saw their targets disappeared, only to be re[placed by imitations.

Yellow and Pika had made their escape. Pika used its substitute/surf combo to cross an underground river, and they safely settled on an island. "I guess you need to be healed", Yellow said to Pika and Kitty. She placed one hand on Pika's head and gave him healing energy. He was instantly better (although he wasn't very injured in the first place). She then moved on to Kitty, placing one hand on its head, and… nothing. "… What's wrong with my powers?"

A few minutes passed with Yellow sitting on her knees, staring at the rough, rocky surface on the cave floor. "Geo, geo geodude!", she heard a nearby geodude had spotted her. "Damn, they found us!" She picked her stuff up, and was off running again as the rock pokemon were coming back to the chase. Around on corner, a right, a left, another right, and dead end. The pokemon soon surrounded her and she was doomed. They closed in, preparing their rock through, or take down, or whatever move they had in mind when all of a sudden there was a pink flash of light, blinding Yellow.

As her vision slowly cleared she found herself still surrounded by the pokemon, but they were unconscious. Every one of them was completely out cold, all except one. At the back of the group there was a small pink pokemon. A pokemon that any real trainer could always identify. A pokemon that most people spent their lives trying to find. Mew.

"Holy Arceus!" Yellow crawled up to the poor pokemon, "Are- are you alright?" "M-mew…" it could hardly speak. "You protected me didn't you?" "mew", it nodded. "Thank you very much. Now, please, let me help you". Yellow pick mew up in her arms, "I've got to take you to the Cerulean pokemon center" "Mew, me-mew!" the pokemon jumped out of Yellow's arms only to fall hard on the stone floor. "Please, I have to help you! You're very hurt!" Mew just shock it's head 'no'. "Fine, if you won't go to the pokemon center then…" she knelt down next to it, "I'll have to do my best". Yellow placed both hands of mew and focused all the energy she could into healing it. "…please, work…". A blue glow started illuminating where Yellow's hands were. She focused all her powers for at least 10 minutes, and finally the mew got back on its feet, though very unsteadily. "That's all I can do for now. Please, be careful and wait, I'll be back". She picked Mew up and placed it on a large rock. Then she ripped a piece of her dress (or whatever the thing she wears is called) and used it as a blanket for Mew. Lastly she removed her hat and gave it to the pokemon to rest its head. "You should be fine for now. I'll be back soon to help you, I promise". And she left.

_Hooray for plot development! Anyway, I want to know, do you guys think I say anyway too much in these author's notes?_

_Lol, anyway, I'm sorry if this chapter was a little… umm… scattered in places, I wasn't exactly sure where I was writing from, kinda a mix on mentally prepared and constantly edited parts, and strait from the heart, typed by feel parts. But I guess as long as you enjoyed it I'm happy._

_Please review, and really quikly I'd just like to thank SS19 and Fan-Chan for, well, they know. Thanks guys XD_


	4. Comfort

_Okay, I promised SS19 I'd have an early update for this, so since I'm done exams next weekend and was going to celebrate by updating all my current fics, I obviously this weekend would be a good early update. Well, let's go!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, if you thought I did, you should probably get tested…_

_Hobby ho, and so we go._

"Where in the hell could she be?", Green's voice echoed through the emptied halls of Yellow's home in the middle of the night in Viridian. "Just relax for a few seconds already; Yellow is smart, and she has her pokemon with her, _and_ she has Pika with her. She'll be fine, but you know we have finally got some time to ourselves for the first time since we got together", she wrapped her arms around him from behind and stopped him from pacing around the house. "I would love to give you a lecture about how irresponsible that is when we're in the house of someone who currently has every gym leader in Kanto looking for them, but Red would kill me if we don't find Yellow soon".

The sound of footsteps passed by on the usually quiet sidewalk outside. Green's ear twitched as they got closer, until they were on crossing the stone walkway in the front yard. Green walked out of Blue's grasp and checked out the window. Blue stepped behind him and followed suite. Outside they could see the shadow of someone, about five feet tall at the most, silhouetted against the empty night. The figure reached the door and pulled what could only be a key from their pocket, and unlocked the front door of the house.

Blue and Green jumped away from the window and were at the door in an instant. Green grabbed the knob and pulled the door open, letting the light from the hallway shine onto the figure. "Yellow!", Blue screamed with joy, pulling the younger girl into a tight hug, "I was so worried about you!" Green, just gave her a look saying 'You didn't seem so worried a minute ago', "Where were you?" Green now pulled Yellow away from Blue, "Well, I've gotta get to the gym and tell the other leaders you're safe. Blue, you figure out what happened", He pulled his jacket on and ran out the door.

"Umm… why are you guys in my house?" Yellow asked, staring up at Blue in confusion. "Waiting for you, now you have to be freezing to death. Where's your hat? And why are you so dirty? And, dear Lugia! Is that blood? Well, everything can be explained after some tea, you should go upstairs and clean up a little". Blue turned to the kitchen, leaving Yellow still confused, "How did you get in…?"

Within about ten minutes they were both settled into the living room, Yellow in a change of clothes and slightly cleaned up, and both holding a teacup. "So where were you?" Blue started the questioning. "I uh, got lost in Cerulean Cave", Yellow rubbed her arm nervously. "Well, that explains the bruises and cuts, but why did you run away?" "…" "Were you sad about Red leaving?" she reached over and held Yellow's hand, "We're all sad about it, but you seemed more upset then even Green, Red's best friend. Or did you look at Red as _more _than a friend", Blue's caring seemed to fade away, as her infamous smile made itself comfortable.

"Wh-what? N-no! I was just upset because a good friend was leaving!". "Well, the way you ran off, and the fact that Green's arcanine traced a trail of tears all the way to the far end of Saffron, seem like a reaction to one's crush leaving, not just a 'good friend'", she made air quotes with her fingers on the last two words. "Well, maybe… But there is something more important", Yellow changed the subject, "I think… I think I lost my powers", her already gentle voice had dropped below a whisper. Blue's smile dropped and her care for Yellow resurfaced, "what do you mean? Your healing powers? How?" "I don't know, I couldn't heal or communicate with any of my pokemon when we were lost, except Pika… I'm going to Viridian Forrest tomorrow to try to find the answer". "Wait, you could still heal Pika? Well, I guess that means I was right about you liking Red, unless it's just a very strange coincidence", it really is amazing how fast Blue's face can change from caring to smirking.

"What, n-", Yellow was cut off as the front door opened again. "Blue, come on", Green's voice came in, "I told the other gym leaders, now we should let Yellow get some sleep. I rented us a hotel room not far from here so we can visit in the morning". "Okay", Blue shouted back, then quieter she said to Yellow, "hear that, we're getting a hotel room to ourselves! See you tomorrow", and she and Green left Yellow for in peace.

"How can I sleep?"

_Well, shortish chapter, but there will probably be another one next week, okay?_

_Anyway, I really liked this chapter; getting somewhat away from Yellow's pain, and moving toward her feelings and reflection. And of course I'm happy I got to squeeze in a lot of Old-Rival moments__. _

_The more I write on this one, the more I like it, and I really hope you guys reading are liking it too! _

_Anyway, please review, and such, everyone makes a difference, and I want you all too enjoy this, so please send in your feedback._

_And right here, quickly, I'd like to properly thank SS19 for her final chapters on 'Did I Ever Want to Grow Up', and wish her luck on the sequel newly started sequel, 'Did I Ever Want to Get Linked'._

_Finally, I realize I don't read enough fics, I mostly just stick to my alert authors list, but I would definitely appreciate it if any of you who enjoy this could send me some fics that either you wrote and are proud of, orjust found and thought were great, any fandom, any type. And please, if you're going to, send it as private message, not in a review, it just doesn't seem like it should be in the reviews, thx._


	5. Yellow, De Viridian Grove

_It's 1:00am; I have a coke zero on the windowsill next to me, and a bag of Doritos on the floor. I have my anime music playlist on repeat, and a cool breeze is blowing through the window across my room, and all my notes on taped on the walls around me. I can now begin… I'm gonna be sitting here for a while._

_Disclaimer: whether I like it or not, I do not own the pokemon special manga… *sigh*_

Yellow woke up in her room, still dark as the curtains were drawn closed, and all lights within the home blessed the exhausted girl with a comforting darkness. But now that she was awake she checked her bedside clock, "FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON! I guess I slept in a little".

After quickly going through the usual morning (or late afternoon) rituals, and getting dressed in a rarely worn yellow hoodie and jeans, Yellow got to preparation. She knew the best place to find answers would be within the trees which once gave her their blessing, Viridian Forrest; only they truly knew why they've taken it back. She rummaged through her basement for a while, and got her stuff together, a tent packed neatly in a bag, some canned pecha berries and moo moo milk, a sleeping bag, and of course her note book; she had no clue how long she'd have to stay in the forest, but she would be ready no matter how long it took.

Lastly she grabbed her pokemon, and stopped by the pokemart for some potion. She had to keep her pokemon healthy, even if her powers couldn't. "Hey, you're that trainer," the cashier said as he scanned the items, "Yeah, one of Professor Oaks prodigies". "Sorry," Yellow pulled her hood up to hide her face a bit, "I think you've got the wrong person", she grabbed the bag of supplies and left the store.

Yellow, still hiding beneath the dark veil of shadow provided by her hood, followed the road that lead north of Viridian. She saw Blue and Green (or at least Blue and a pile of shopping bags with legs she presumed was Green) coming her direction. "Why is this such a big deal?" the pile of bags asked Blue. "Because we've been going out for a year now and you treat me the exact same as you did back when we were kids! No, worse, when we were younger you might have at least gotten one suite with two separate bedrooms, now you decide to get two completely separate hotel rooms!" "Loud girl", the bags mumbled under their breath, then more clearly said, "I took you out to dinner, aren't you at least happy about that?" "Pfff", Blue turned her head away from the walking bags, "That's meaningless if you don't actually care about me".

The two of them passed right by Yellow, her hood pulled down to completely cover her face. "Just calm down for now, we're going to check on Yellow now", Green quieted Blue down, "You can yell my ear off all you want afterward". "Fine, but because I care about Yellow, NOT you!". They kept walking passed the girl dressed in the yellow sweater.

"I'm sorry", Yellow dropped a tear for them once they were out of sight, "Please understand what I need to do". Yellow had reached to edge of Viridian, where the paved road came to an abrupt halt to let the wondrous Viridian Forrest prosper, and she broke out into a hard sprint into the trees.

"SHE'S GONE AGAIN!", Green held a letter left by Yellow in his hands. The letter read: _Dear Blue and Green; I've had to leave for my own reasons, and I would request you not to follow me. I promise I'll be fine and return soon, but for now… please understand what I have to do. Signed: Yellow De Viridian Grove._

"How could she do this? She just came home last night and now she's already gone again!" Green began to freak out. "Now you're the one who should calm down", Blue said with a hint of bitterness, from the corner of the room, "Yellow's a big girl. She can take care of herself". "But if she gets hurt I'll never forgive myself", Green told her. "Oh, good to know you care about _her_!" "That's not what I meant". "Whatever", Blue turned away, hiding her pain, "if you care so much, I think I could tell you where she is…" "You know! Where did she go?" Green walked to her, and grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around to face him. "Well if she wanted you to know she would have said in the letter, wouldn't she?", Blue turned away again and walked to the door, "Now since Yellow has her own plans her, I'm going back to MY hotel room! See you tomorrow".

Green's mind raced, he wasn't sure what he should do. He needed to find Yellow, and Blue wasn't going to tell him where she was… well, not unless she knew the truth. The truth is interesting, it can be a burden to hold away from the light of day, it can hold great power, but it can be hard to say, even when most important. Especially if you've been trusted to keep the truth unknown. But now Green had to give it.

"Blue, wait", Blue stopped and turned to Green, her hands on her hips, ready to listen, "The reason I need to find Yellow is because of Red. He… told me something before he left. He told me to make sure she would be okay. He told me he…"

It's gotten dark, and even the light reflected off the midnight moon could not push more than a few speckles through the dense canopy of Viridian Forest. Yellow had set up her tent deep in the heart of the forest. The young dex holder was ready to sleep, her pokemon were all comfortable in their slumber, yet she lay awake. "Tomorrow I begin my search", she said to herself, "And I'll find the answers".

She took out her sketch book which held a hand drawn map of all parts of the forest Yellow knew. She circled one spot, on the border of where the map faded into blank page, to represent her first night camp sight. The she circle a spot on the blank part of the paper, "We should get here for tomorrow, then spend a few days exploring the surrounding area".

Before she could plan what to do next there was a rustling outside. Yellow stopped and took a peek outside the tent. She had set it up in a tiny clearing, surrounded by brambles. To the left of the entrance the brambles were pushed aside, something that had not been when she arrived.

"Hello!" she called gently toward the gap, "Is there anyone there?". She would usually use her powers in this situation to calm whatever would be there, but obviously lacking that ability, she had to step out and see what it was. She slowly approached the bush, lifting a flashlight toward it. As she stepped through she found herself face to face with a pinsir. Six feet tall, and eyes red with anger, the burly bug pokemon was nothing to take lightly.

Yellow felt her legs trying to turn and run, but she knew better. If she ran it would chase her, and she wasn't fast enough to out speed the beast. "Am I trespassing on your home?" she asked it, "If I am I'm sorry. I mean not harm and I will be gone before sunrise". The pinsir took a step toward her, closing the already minimal gap. "Please back down, I mean you no harm!" she told it, not losing any ground. The pinsir ignored her completely and finally sprung forward, spiked head aiming directly for Yellow.

Yellow ducked to the ground and landed flat on her stomach. The pinsir landed on one foot, and with great grace twirled back toward Yellow. It bent down as it crunched its horns together, aiming once again for Yellow. The Viridian girl felt around for whatever she could find, which happened to be a fallen tree branch. Flipping over she pushed it in pinsir's path and got the rotten bark tangled up within the bug's spikes on its horns. She got to her feet and ran for the tent, her pokemon cold protect her. She jumped over the brambles, back into the clearing and ran to the entrance of the tent. She almost reached it when the pinsir came after her charging. It swept her up in its horns and carried her back of the bushes, finally pinning her to a tree just outside the clearing. She was stuck, too far above the ground to reach anything to fight back with, and not strong enough to break free of the wild pokemon. She was doomed.

Blue stood still with one hand in the sleeve of her coat as she was preparing to leave before Green's words shook her to the core. It wasn't hard to have guessed, but now that it had been told, Blue was shocked.

"Do you understand why we can't let her get hurt now?" Green asked. "…Y-yeah", Blue started to regain control. "Good. Now we have to find her. So where did she go?". Blue stood, thinking for what could have been anywhere between a minute and a day. Finally she answered, "I can't tell you… this is her decision. She'll be safe".

Yellow fumbled around, her hands pressing against the rough bark of the tree she was pinned to. The pinsir that held her showed no sign of letting up. It compressed its horns, and spikes dug into the sides of Yellow's neck. It was planning to suffocate her.

Seemingly out of nowhere there was a flash of white light. Yellow had one thought, 'Is this the end?'. She starred into the light as she felt herself come away from the tree and fall. And as quickly as the light had come, it was gone.

She looked up. She saw she was on the ground now; the pinsir, which had attacked her, was turned away, caught in another fight against both Pika and Chu chu. The bright light had been Pika's flash, but that seemed to be the only attack that made a difference. Even with both of them, Pika and Chu chu couldn't stand up to the pinsir. Pika went in with a thunderbolt but was quickly thrown back against a tree by the huge bug. Chu chu jumped forward to guard Yellow while the wild pokemon was distracted. Yellow sat in the dirt as the pinsir turn toward her and Chu chu. "Chu chu, get back to the tent, I'll be fine", Yellow urged the mouse pokemon, but Chu chu didn't move. "Please, go back, I'll be alright, I promise!" Chu chu still held her ground as the enemy approached.

The pinsir jumped forward, readying its final attack, guillotine. The instant before the attack landed pinsir was stopped. It fell to the ground, no more than a few inches in front of Chu chu and Yellow. Behind it was none other than Lance and his dragonair. Yellow then lost consciousness.

Yellow woke up back in her tent, covered by her sleeping bag, and neck bandaged with the leaves and sticks. Outside there was a fire crackling. She went outside to check it out and found Lance siting by it. "What are you doing here?" she jumped back at the sight of him. He turn his head to her, "So, you're finally awake". "Don't change the subject! Why the hell are you here? That was your pinsir back there wasn't it!". "Calm yourself. No, that was not my pinsir, it was a wild one that I saved you from. As for why I'm here, this is my home, and you're trespassing", he grabbed a log from a nearby pile and threw it onto the fire. "I- I'm trespassing? Tha- that's impossible, you're the villain here!" Yellow was getting angry at the mysterious dragon champion. "Ha, I used to be. But you showed me that the people of today aren't all bad. Since that I've made a home within these woods, I've been living with the pokemon". "You're lying", Yellow spat on the fire. "Believe what you will, but please take into account the fact that I just save your life. Now if you're done questioning me, I have one question for you", Lance smiled lightly, "why are you here?"

"None of your business!" Yellow shouted at him, "Now please leave my campsite before I have to let Pika attack you!". "Ah, 'Pika', isn't it that name of the pikachu you fought with back on Cerise Island? If I'm correct that he belonged to that other trainer, Red. So why do you have him now?" "None of your business! Now leave", Yellow turned back into the tent and closed the entrance. "Fine, if you don't wish to get your powers back, I guess I'll leave", Lance stood up only to have Yellow jump out of the tent and shout, "How did you know?"

"It's obvious". "How did you know?", the voice Yellow spoke in seemed to forceful to be her own. Lance backed away toward the pinsir which still lay in the same spot where it had been defeated, "I was watching your battle. Anyone with the gift of the forest could have easily calmed this beast, but you couldn't". "Maybe I hadn't thought of that", Yellow pushed for information. "And THAT is where it gets interesting. You still don't know much about your own powers do you?", Lance egged her on. "I've been working on them, but what don't I know about now?" "You don't know of their dangers". Yellow stood silent, waiting for more answers to be given. Lance continued, "One of these dangers is why you were just attacked, you see, within Viridian Forest is the life source of every single pokemon in the world. It is the heart of them. Every person with the power, determination, and heart of a true pokemon trainer contains a piece of the forest itself within them; they make up parts of the forest. Then there are the _special_ trainers. Ones like you and me. We like the others hold a piece of the forest, but we hold a greater piece, we hold the life of the deepest part of the forest", he stopped and stared over the trees toward the rising sun, "Follow me", he stood and walked away, beckoning yellow to follow. She stood, grabbed her pokemon, and did as instructed.

As they made their way deeper into Viridian Forest Lance continued, "as I was saying, we hold the life of the deepest part of the forest, the spot where the life of pokemon and humans first began, the spot that Arceus started it all, and when a trainer that holds this power dies, the life source is passed onto their closest loved one…". Yellow hesitated for a moment at the concept of death, but quickly regained control and continued to follow Lance. "…the problem is that if someone who holds the heart of the forest loses the one they truly love, the power cannot be passed on, and it dies…". A tear started to trickle down Yellow's face as she thought of Red.

Lance pushed through the last of the dance vegetation and the forest opened up into an enormous clearing, were nothing, not even pokemon set foot on. Lance gently grabbed Yellow's hand and guided her into it. At the center of the clearing she saw an oasis made of magnificent oaks, birches, elms, and rowans. Yellow stared in disbelief at the beautiful sanctuary.

Lance turned to her, "We shouldn't be here". "W-what, why not? If we shouldn't be that why'd you take me here?" "Look carefully", Lance pointed to the oasis, "It's dying". Yellow stared at the trees and after a while and noticed that they were indeed beginning to die. "Well… why?", Yellow asked, tears again trying to force their way out. "Because of you. Your powers are gone, and now the barrier that usually protects this place from anyone even entering this clearing has gone. Now any one or any pokemon can easily walk over to those trees and chop them down, take their branches to make nests, anything". "But you said that the forest gave all life to pokemon and people, so if the heart of the forest dies does that mean-". That everything on earth will die, yes, I'm afraid so. Now, your question was why the pinsir attacked you earlier, the answer is that pokemon and humans can sense who you are, and what has happened. They are hostile toward you because they blame you. I assume that is why you came to the forest; the people in the city were against you?"

Yellow didn't answer for a while; she was trying to absorb all she'd just heard. Finally she lifted her head and said, "No. No they weren't. I came here for answers". Lance looked surprised, "So humans don't sense you've lost your powers?" "Well, I'm not sure if I've lost them…". "What do you mean?" "I-I'll show you". She sent out Pika who was still injured from the fight with pincir, and placed a hand on his forehead. Glow emitted from her hand and Pika's wounds disappeared as they did whenever Yellow healed a pokemon.

Lance stared in disbelief, 'So… there's still hope', "Is this the only pokemon your powers have worked on since you lost them?" Lance asked Yellow. Yellow nodded. "And this is Red's Pikachu…" Lance trailed off into though, "Has anything happened to Red lately?" "Yes, he went away to a new region", Yellow forced the words out as a tear fell. "Yellow De Viridian Grove", Lance said, "Please listen; there might be a way to stop the forest from dying. Do you love Red", Lance asked, almost angrily. Yellow stayed silent. "Do you like him?" Lance repeated. Yellow didn't answer. "Look, if you don't want to answer don't, but if you do love him then you have to find him and tell him!"

_Well, that took a WHILE. Now please, give me your opinion, 'did I go for something a little too ambitious with this chapter?' I'm worried I didn't quite get it, but at the same time I think there's not really any why I'd want this. Please, PLEASE, give you opinion of it in a review._

_And right here, I'd like to sincerely thank Specialshpping19 for her fantastic beta read of this. Honestly, she caught mistakes that I still missed after three editing jobs!_

_Thank you._


	6. Tiring sleep

_We're back! Finally a new chapter of 'Courage'. Well, remember to review, let's start._

_Hobby ho, and so we go_

_Disclaimer: If you haven't gotten it through your head after five chapters already, I don't own pokemon special, and chances are I will continue to not own pokemon special, so why is it necessary to put these at the beginning of every chapter? I don't know T.T_

Yellow's clock woke her early in the morning, before the sun had risen. She got dress quickly, and put on her hoodie for warmth in the cold, still dark city, before stepping outside. She walked down the empty city streets toward Green and Blue's hotel, stopping at the pokemon center on the way to drop off her pokemon, except Pika. She knew she couldn't heal them, and she didn't want to endanger them selfishly.

Arriving at the hotel, Yellow stared up at the immense building, as if preparing to climb it with her bare hands, but the journey she was about to start would be much more difficult than that. She took a seat on a couch in the lobby, to get out of the cold before she left, and called Blue on her Pokégear. "Hey, Yellow", Blue grumbled through the phone, "What's up? It's only like, seven in the morning. Why are you calling?" Yellow hesitated for a minute than said, "Can you come down to the lobby? I need to talk to you about something".

Seconds after Yellow closed her pokégear the elevator opened, revealing Blue inside. "Are you okay?" she asked, "What's going on?" Yellow moved over on the couch to make room for Blue next to her, "It's about Red…" "I knew it!" Blue stated proudly, "You do like him!" "It's not that…" Yellow struggled to hold back a blush, "I- I love him. I need to see him!" "Well, then you better go see him. Here", Blue took out a pokeball, through which Yellow could see an orange dragon with a flame emitting from its tail. "You Stole Green's Charizard!" "Yeah", Blue admitted, "I was gonna try to sell it, to get back at him, but lending it to you is a better cause", Blue smiled, half with evil, half with kindness, "Besides, I can always convince him I sold it".

"…Thanks", Yellow took the ball hesitantly, not sure whether to use it to save the world and herself, or just give it back to Green, "But how exactly will Green thinking you sold his starter pokemon, and friend, help your relationship?" "Oh, it won't, it's just more fun for me", Blue smiled with pure evil now, "Oh, I almost forgot", She ruffled through her bag; "Red sent some post cards the other day, one for each of us. Yours has a picture of the region he's in from above, and you can see it's right next to Sinnoh", she pulled out the post card and pointed it out, "And the one he sent me has a map of the region on the back, so that should come in handy", she took out another one and passed it to Yellow, "And here some pictures of him, in case you need to ask for directions or something", she pulled out a handful of pictures out Red from her bag.

Yellow looked at all the pictures and asked, "Why were you just carrying those with you?" "Oh", Blue replied, "That was part of a plan to make Green jealous, but once again, this is a better cause. Besides, I'm sure I can find more. Oh, maybe even one's of me and Red, or even better, me, Red, and Green, but I'll tear Green's face off the picture!" Blue eyes started to glaze over as she realized the possibilities, while Yellow just stared, concerned for her mental health.

Blue's pokégear rang and she took it out to check who was calling, "Oh, that's Green now; you better go before he comes down".

Yellow hesitated for a second, then said, "Okay, I hope I'll be back soon", She placed all the thing Blue had given her into her bag, "Good bye". Yellow ran outside, and release charizard from its pokeball, "Okay, let's head toward Sinnoh to start!" Without slowing down she hopped right onto the beast's back, and they took off as the sun began to rise. As they went through the air, Yellow had a strange feeling. For the first time since she'd heard Red was leaving she wasn't sad. In fact, she was almost relieved, almost worried, almost excited, almost terrified, almost amazed, and almost happy. She actually smiled as she felt the morning warmth on her face.

The hours of the day whittled away as Yellow, Pika, and Charizard soared above the clouds, and dove to skim the ocean. It wasn't long before they had distanced themselves from Kanto, and found nothing left around them but wide seas.

"Hey, look down there!" Yellow shouted, looking over the ocean, "That's route 131! That must mean we're flying over Hoenn now!" Her Pika carefully crawled up Charizard's back, and peeked down, over his shoulder. Yellow raised her gaze slightly to see a stone building, just on the north end of route 131, that towered over the rocks and wave below. "So that's the Sky Pillar, where Rayquaza lives!" The late afternoon sun cast the building's ambitious showdown far to the east, pointing to Ever Grande city and even farther. And Yellow kept going with it, and kept going long after the shadow had given up, and sunk beneath the depths of the water.

"It's getting pretty late", Yellow observed as she looked over her shoulder to see the setting sun, "We should make camp for the night, then start heading north in the morning". Charizard gladly obeyed, and once they spotted a small forest island he swept down, and finally gave his exhausted wing's a rest.

Yellow jumped off, then reached up and lifted Pika, who'd already fallen asleep, down. A quick flamethrower and unpacking job they had made camp in a small clearing onto of a hill. Charizard had fallen asleep by a camp fire with its tail resting in the flames, while Yellow and Pika were in a sleeping bag not far away, Pika completely passed out and Yellow staring up through the tree branches toward the stars. "I'll see you soon, Red", she whispered to herself, 'And I'll be able to tell you the truth…' she couldn't quite speak the last words, only think them.

It wasn't long until the moon took its place, way atop the sky, and many of the pokemon through the island were pulled from their slumber by a scent. A scent of fear, and evil. A distinct scent that only wild pokemon could notice that signifies danger. The scent given off by one forgotten and abandoned by Viridian forest. A scent that lead them to attack whoever it came from, and in this case, it was Yellow.

Back at the camp, Yellow was sleeping peacefully for the first time in a few days, but Pika woke up as his ears twitched, noticing the sound of approaching wild pokémon. He jumped out of the sleeping bag and ran toward the edge of the hill, jumping through a bush and scampering off looking for the sound. As he cleared a large fallen tree he saw them coming. Dozens of kabuto, kabutops, omanyte, and omastar all came running toward the camp sight. Pika quickly turned around and dashed back to warn Yellow.

Pika broke into the campsite, screeching and sending thunder shocks out just moments before the hoard of ancient wild pokémon broke in. One of the shocks struck Yellow like a bit of static, barely waking her up. Her eyes slowly flickered open, and she saw the surge of pokémon run in. "What- What's going on?" She shouted as she tried to pull herself out of the sleeping bag. Before she could stand up though, one of the kabutops reached her, and started a slash attack. "Pika, thunderbolt!" she shouted at the last second, and Pika obeyed, jump right onto the creatures back and shocking it.

Charizard woke up from all the noise, and soon found itself surrounded by the omanyte and omastar. It swept its tail out of the fire, sending an enormous flare all around, but the pokemon stopped the attack in its tracks with water guns. Pika charged part of the group out of the way, shocking as many as he could, and made a opening in the circle. Yellow quickly grabbed her bag and ran in after Pika. They jumped on Charizard's back and took off, but before they could breach the forest canopy, icebeams from the pokemon below connected with Charizard's wings, and it fall back into the woods.

"Are you alreaight?" Yellow asked him, as he lay motionless on the ground. "Here, this should help", she took out a super potion from her bag and sprayed in on the dragon's wings and neck. Charizard managed to stand up again, and jumped in to the air, flapping its massive wings, but only managing to fall back down. Yellow looked at them to see they were both coated in ice. "Wait, I have some full heal in here", Yellow put her hand back in her bag and pulled out the medicine. She lifted it to Charizard's wing, but before she could spray it they were hit by a giga impact from a kabutops, and she dropped it, and spilled half the items out of her bag. "Ahhh! We're got to get away from here! Charizard, if you can't fly then just run!" Charizard struggle to recover from the attack, but once he did he nodded and broke out into a sprint through the forest, throwing entire trees out of the way, and ripping up the trunks.

The wild pokemon followed still, some of them breaking into aqua jet attacks, and proved to be much fast then Charizard. Pika turned around, and started shoot all the thunder bolts it could behind them to slow the pursuers down, but there were too many to stop. The chase continued deep into the island's forest, and back out. Eventually they found themselves on a beach that bordered the place, with nowhere left to run, surrounded by water.

"We have to stop this here!" Yellow said, "Pika, Charizard, give it all you've got!" Pika and Charizard each stood to face the oncoming opponents and attacked. Pika launched a thunder attack directly into the cluster of water types, which bounced from one to the next lightning fast. Charizard readied himself quickly, and then shot a devastating hyper beam straight through all the foes. When the blast of light from the attacks faded none of the wild pokemon were left standing.

Yellow let out a sigh of relief before running to Pika to heal him after the fight. Charizard used a gentle flamethrower attack to melt the ice beneath each of its wings, and walked up to Yellow and Pika. "Here", Yellow said, grabbing another super potion from the bag, "It looks like this is the last one. All the others felt out when we here hit by that giga impact". She sprayed Charizard with the potion.

"Okay, now we have to figure out"- She was cut off by an ear ripping screech from the back in the woods. There was a moment of silence as the group stared into the trees, and all of a sudden they blackness of the shadows was broken by two Red eyes which stared back. 'Get ready to run', Yellow communicated silently to Pika with her powers.

None of them made a move for what could have been hours, they just stood staring at the eyes, and the eyes stared back. There were three possible things that could happen. Yellow and her pokemon could risk making a move, the eyes from the shadows could make a move, or the fainted wild pokemon could wake up. Yellow didn't want to wait any longer for one of the other two, "Now!" She and Pika jumped onto Charizard's back, and the fire pokemon jumped to the skies.

"I think we escaped!" Yellow was shock that they survived the incident, but before they could rejoice they scream came again. She turned her head, and glance back over her should and watched and the forest shock, and trees were uprooted and launched into the air by a massive pokémon, Aerodactyl. "It's an Aerodactyl!" she shouted, "hurry, faster!" they started to go notably faster but once the ancient pokémon started to fly they were completely out matched in speed.

Pika turned around and started to shoot lightning bolts, Aerodactyl easily dodged them with a quick flap of one wing, rolling out of the way. It caught up fast, and opened its mouth, revealing sharp, flaming fangs as it readied its fire fang attack. As its jaw came to a shut it lurched forward, trying to grab Yellow, but before it could, Charizard spun around, bringing Yellow out of the foe reach and taking the attack itself to its side, and shot a fire blast at Aerodactyl, completely covering the pokémon's body in flames as it plummeted toward the waters below.

"… I- I think we're safe now", Yellow hesitated, looking around to make sure there were no more pokemon around. She then noticed the blood seeping from a wound on Charizard's leg, were the Aerodactyl had had bit him. "Oh my gosh! We have to land and heal you somewhere! We can use leaves to bandage the injury, and coat it with the juice of the right berries, and"- She was cut off by Charizard roaring in protest as it shock its head. "What do you mean?" Yellow asked. Charizard responded with a few roars of pokémon language, which Yellow could not understand in the least. "I don't understand what you're saying!" Yellow shouted as she let her face collapse on the dragon's hide and tears flow down it.

'I said to not worry. I'm hurt, but I will be alright'. Yellow couldn't believe it. She understood. She didn't understand the words, but she understood Charizard's feelings! She focused as much as she could to try to keep the link. She managed to understand that Charizard didn't care about the injury, but just wanted to help find Red; Yellow was not the only one upset about his leaving, Green also missed him, and Charizard wanted to help his master. Yellow felt so grateful to the pokemon. "Thank you", she said, allowing one last tear to drop which trickled down the pokémon's back and leg, until it reached the wound. The tear dripped into the cut, and started healing it.

They continued flying long into the night, and after the sunrise, not taking a break until the region Red was in came into view.

_Well, I'm happy with this chapter. I'm not particularly good a writing the battles, and I think that this was a victim of that, but it wasn't too bad, was it?..._

_If any of you are confused, and want to understand, please message me and I'll happily explain. I don't want one confusing bit to turn anyone off this story._

_Anyway, We've made it to the new region, so we'll be landing their and exploring a bit next time. See ya then!_

_Oh, and I saw this…_

／l、  
（ﾟ､ ｡ ７  
l、 ~ヽ  
じしf, )ノ

…_in the profile of someone who's faved this story, and thought it was so cute I absolutely HAD to post it. Hope ya don't mind ^.^,_


	7. Found and Lost

**I've left this for too long, haven't I? Well, Okay, yes I have, but I'm not gonna lie, as far as the main plot goes, we're almost done this project. I've got a little stuff planned for after, but for the most part we're reaching the end. Kinda a sad concept, because this is pretty much my most popular story, and one I'm most into (granted 'A bit of a Mind Game' has more views, but that's changing fast), so tell you what, I never expect any of my stories to reach 15 reviews, and as it stands we're at 12. If we get to 17, I'll make a deviantart account, and post something I've been working on there. I'll admit, I've never done any quality drawings (I've always been more into sculpting, and photography in art), but I'll put my all into it, and who knows, it might actually be good. So please review.**

**Oh, and since I mentioned 'A Bit of a Mind Game' a minute ago, I want to say, I was rereading the reviews for it not long ago, and have decided, for my next main project, I'm gonna be fixing if up. I bet all you Chosen shippers are so happy (I love sarcasm ^.^). And in reading those reviews I noticed; SS19, now ********? Yeah, I was confused who that was for a minute… so it's MOFZ19…? Seems almost like a military protocol, lol. Just kidding, cool name.**

**AHH! Off topic… as always… Anyway,**

**Hobby ho, and so we go.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon special. If you thought I did, then thx for vastly overestimating my awesome-level ^.^**

Charizard touched down in a small village, near the coast of the region. It was still early morning, so there was nobody to question a stranger landing into town on a pokémon rare to other regions and not even existent in this region. Yellow and Pika dismounted their flying companion, and Yellow returned him to his pokeball. "She held the ball gently and tried to convey her feelings of gratitude, hoping it work, and then set off for the pokémon center.

She was surprise when she found the center, as it was little more than some beds, a low tech version of the usual healing system, and of course a PC, all covered by a tent top on four long stilts. It made sense though; this region was just beginning to get its first trainers, and didn't even have gyms yet.

A nurse stood behind the counter, staring at Yellow across the 'room'. Yellow stared back thinking 'Does she just stand there 24/7? Does she even blink?' Pika, who was on her shoulder, shrugged and tilted his head.

"Can I help you", the nurse asked, not blinking.

"Uh, yes", Yellow pulled out Charizard's pokeball, "Could you please heal my pokémon". She tried to get Pika to get in his pokeball, but he refused. Yellow shrugged it off since she didn't' expect to be battling too much in this region, and Pika did get enough sleep on the way over.

"Sure", she took Charizard's pokeball for Yellow and put it on the machine. The machine actually pulled the pokeball inside itself and a bunch of colourful light went off before the pokeball rolled out into a pickup slot. Not quite as up-to-date as the usual kind, but it seemed to get the job done.

Yellow thanked the nurse behind the counter, then walk over to the PC. There was a video phone attached to it, so Yellow decided to call Blue and let her know she'd made it safely. Well, the safe part may be a bit of a lie, but she didn't want to worry the dex-holders back in Kanto. She dialled the number and waited a minute for Blue to pick up.

"Hey Yellow", Blue said, appearing on the screen, "How're you doing?"

"Good, I just landed. I wanted to let you know", Yellow explained.

"Okay, Thanks. How is the region, and have you found Red?"

"I just got here, so I don't know, and no. But", Yellow held Charizard's pokeball up to the screen, "I was wondering if you could return this to Green".

"Oh, good, I needed that back", Blue smiled, "Green was so worried about what I did with Charizard, he agreed to take me to a jewellery store if I gave him back. I'm gonna make that boy go bankrupt!"

"Wait, you really didn't tell him!" Yellow almost dropped the pokeball in shock, "Blue, he could be so worried!"

"Don't worry, I told him he was safe", Blue said.

"Oh", Yellow thought back to the night before when they were almost sent into the ocean, "Yeah, well... Anyway, good to know you guys are on better terms".

"Better terms? We broke up".

"What?", Once again Yellow almost dropped the pokeball, "Why? When? You're still gonna make him buy you jewellery?"

"Don't worry yourself with the details; you still have to find Red. Just send Charizard over, and call me when something comes up". Blue hung up the phone, and Yellow slowly did the same. She placed Charizard's pokeball in the teleporter, and pressed a few buttons before it disappeared into thin air, being sent to Blue.

After leaving the pokémon center (and being told by the nurse that she hoped to see her again. Did she like seeing pokémon in the hospital?) Yellow and Pika wandered around town a bit, and soon found a small café. It was still early, and there was no one out to question about Red, so they decided to grab some breakfast. A waiter , seemed to be a little under twenty years old, came by to ask their order, but before he got the chance he blurted out, "Hey, is that a pokémon? Are you another pokémon trainer?"

"Umm, sort of", Yellow answered shyly, then she realized what he said, "Wait, _another_?"

"Yeah", the waiter answered, "Another trainer arrived here just a few days ago. I think he's living in Professor Poplar's lab. I haven't really met him, but people say he just goes there at night, and spends all day on route 1, just outside town".

"Where's this lab?" Yellow asked, jumping from her seat.

"Just a few blocks north of here, you can't miss it". The waiter pointed north.

Yellow grabbed Pika and started sprinting off toward the lab. After about thirty seconds she turned around and lazily walked back, plopped back in a chair at the café, and said, "Breakfast first, finding Red second".

Once she and Pika had sufficiently stuffed themselves with pancakes and maple syrup, they left the café and headed for professor Poplar's lab. Like the pokémon center, it was pretty low tech, at least form the outside. Other than the sign above the front door that said 'Pokémon Research Lab', there was nothing setting the building apart from most of those in the town. It was a log cabin, with no more than two windows, both in the front and both covered by curtains. It was built at the very edge of the town too, one would have to push through a number a tree branches and undergrowth to reach it.

Yellow was about to open the door when she heard a voice behind her. "Hey, what are you doing? Trying to break into MY lab?"

Her head bolted around so she could see a girl in a lab coat that seemed just a little bit too big for her. Yellow's best guess of her age would have been somewhere in the early twenties, but she could have passed to be Yellow's slightly older sister. Her blond hair was cut short, to about her shoulders, and her glasses slid down her nose, only to be pushed back up again with a single finger.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just looking for someone called Professor Poplar", Yellow explained herself.

"Well, you've found me. But don't expect any starter pokémon or anything kid, because I ain't got any". She held a clip board which she didn't take her eyes off one as she spoke. "Now if you'll go home and let me do my job, we might have some in a few months".

"Oh, no, that's not it, I heard you might know something about another trainer, he came from Kanto just a couple days ago".

Professor Polar pulled her stare from the clip bored and answered, "Oh yeah. Old Oak convinced me to let him sleep in the spare room in my lab. He should be in their now, let me just wake him up". She pulled a few dozen keys from her pocket, took a few seconds looking through then, gave up and mashed her fist against a window yelling, "Hey Red! Kid, get up already!"

They heard movement from inside the lab, and Yellow couldn't help but feel nervous; very nervous. They footsteps stopped and they could now hear someone unlocking the door. Yellow could feel herself taking a few small steps back. And she saw the door begin to open. She felt herself jump as fast as she could behind the closest tree and hide.

"G'morning", Red said, stepping outside in some shorts and an undershirt. He yawned loudly and asked, "Why are you waking me up so early?"

Professor Poplar was looking at her clipboard again and hadn't even noticed Yellow escaping, "Early? It's seven o'clock! I've been up for an hour and a half writing a report on how electric pokémon convert electrical energy into kinetic energy, enabling the two"-

"Okay, I get it, you wake up early, but ya couldn't have let me sleep in a little?"

"No I couldn't have. Besides, there's a girl here who claims to know"- She looked to where Yellow had stood a few minutes before to find she was gone. "Where'd she go?"

Yellow could feel her heart beating out of her chest. The conversation between Red and Professor Poplar continued behind her just a couple meters away, and she could her every word. If she turned her neck a few degrees she'd be able to see Red again. The thought was welcomed to her mind and a small smile found her lips. But at the same time she was terrified, and if she tried to get a glimpse of him, he'd probably see her, and then what would she do?

She then noticed something, where was Pika? She closed her eyes and focused, trying to focus on syncing her mind with Pika. As if her eyes had opened again, she could see, but not from her own point of view, but see through Pika's eyes. She was on top the lab "cabin", peeking over the edge of the roof down at Red. Just at the sight of the back of his head for a split second she lost her focus, and broke the connection between her and Pika. She tried to re-bond that connection, desperate to see his face, but every time she was too distracted by her goal to achieve her means.

She opened her eyes again, finally giving up on catching a glimpse of Red through Pika's mind, to see a pokémon, completely foreign to her. It looked a lot like caterpie, but golden instead of green, and it wore a dried, brittle leaf as a cape. The first thing that went through Yellow's head was how cute it was. The second was that it must have smelt the Viridian Forest sprit dying in her, and was probably about to attack.

She desperately tried to make a mental connection to calm it, but it wouldn't work. Great, her cover was about to be blown and wild pokémon were probably swarming to her from all around. But to her surprise, the pokémon went right past her, even tried moving to the side to avoid her, and crawled up to Red.

"Hey, you have a worm on your leg", Professor Poplar warned Red, while still staring at her clip board.

Red glanced down to see the little pokémon crawling up his pant leg. "Hey little guy, what you doing here walking up to someone so casually?" He lowered his hand and let it crawl on top of his palm and then raised it to his eye level. "I noticed the pokémon here are pretty happy being around people", red noted to Professor Poplar, "Back in other regions it can be a challenge just to get a glimpse of them sometimes. These ones are really tame".

"Oh, really?" the professor turned to a blank page in her notes and stated writing in it furiously.

She started questioning Red on the topic, while Yellow took the time to think about what he'd said. Maybe that's why the pokémon didn't attack her, because it was so tame. So with a little luck she'd be able to stop worrying about any wild pokémon going after her. Based on the way the bug pokémon just avoided her, they seemed to have a sense of dislike toward her, but no violence. That was good.

She heard Professor Poplar's voice, "Can we go inside? I've gotta save this on the computer".

Red and Poplar walked inside the lab, giving Yellow the chance to finally release a sigh of relief. Pika jumped off the roof, and perched himself pack on the Viridian trainer's shoulder. Yellow sent Pika a mental sign of gratitude for resisting to be with Red again to help her, as they made their way back to town.

"Hey, Blue?" Yellow said into her phone. She and Pika were in a hotel room they'd check into for the rest of the day and night.

"Yeah, did you find Red already?" Blue responded on the other side.

"We did, but I haven't gotten around to talking to him yet", Yellow admitted.

"What do you mean you haven't spoken to him? You've already found him just tell him you like him!" Blue was nothing less than commanding Yellow.

"W-well it's not easy okay!" Yellow found herself almost shouting.

"Well you made it to him, are you saying that was the easy part?"

"It's just that- well- I'm just- it's hard to explain!" Yellow was blushing already.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you're shy, too shy to save yourself".

"Well, a little, but it's not a big deal okay" she started to calm down, "I promise, I'll let him know I'm here within the next few days, and I'll tell him how I feel by the end of the week, okay?"

"By the end of the week! No. If you don't tell him tomorrow morning, I'll phone him and do it myself!"

"But Blue!"-

"No buts. This is something you're gonna have to do".

"I don't think you're the best person to be getting relationship advice from right about now", Yellow was actually trying to make Blue angry, and maybe get her to change her mind.

"Relationship or not, I'm getting diamond earrings, so say whatever you want".

Yellow sighed, "Fine, I'll tell him tomorrow morning". She hung up the phone before she got the chance to hear Blue begin to gloat about winning their argument.

Yellow unpacked what she had left in her bag: tooth brush and paste, a change of clothes, and the rest of the money she had left. Took a quick shower and wore complimentary pyjamas from the hotel. Then she finally collapsed in her bed, falling asleep in the early afternoon.

**Well guys, next chapter finishes it. We're really that close to done, but I do have two more extra chapters, so we're not exactly 'done' yet. Though I will say, one of the extras is sorta a major thing, and I'm likely to just include it in the next chapter, or if not I doubt it would really be and 'extra' chapter anyway, but more of a final chapter (excluding the other extra). But I'm saying next chapter is the final one because Yellow is finally confessing to Red. Get ready XD**

**One thing I want to say, I spent about two hours creating Professor Poplar's character… yeah, and I hate to let a good OC go to waste, so tell me, anyone interested in a fic dedicated to her? I doubt it would be one of my main one, just a side one I think, but who knows really.**

**Anyway, views on the chapter, opinions, problems, or even just a name for that cute little bug pokémon I just made up; any reviews accepted, so please give them.**


	8. Truth

_Sorry for the long wait here. I had some writers block which I just got over it by writing the most depressing story I've done so far… But let's forget that and have some Special shipping goodness!_

_Hobby ho,_

_Disclaimer: I still don't own poke spec, and I probably never will, so you should stop bothering to read these disclaimers._

As the sun of the new day rose, so did Yellow. She took her time getting ready; extra-long shower, shampooing her hair twice; looking through her entire wardrobe that she packed three times before settling on her usual outfit; following the 'small circle' method when brushing her teeth; and combing her hair through, just to tie it up the same as always.

Today was the day. She had to admit her love for Red. Not to save the world, or because Blue told her to, she had to admit it for herself. So after the extensive morning preparations, she ran out the hotel room door, leaving behind her hat.

She quietly crept through the town, still in its early morning stage, where everyone was asleep, towards professor Poplar's lab. 'With a little luck that Red will still be asleep and I won't have to'- she cut herself off 'No! I can't think like that! I have to be brave…'

She pushed her way through the trees and undergrowth that separated the lab from the rest of the town. Climbing up to the lab, she pushed herself up on her tip toes to look through one of the windows. The inside looked like a bedroom; the lights were off, there was a bed obviously, a dresser at the end, and piles of clothes including red jackets and jeans all over the place. Definitely Red's room.

The bed was in a mess, but Yellow could see the shape of a person underneath the covers 'Red must be in there', Yellow though, losing her balance as soon as she saw, and having to jump back from the window to avoid falling over.

"Hey! What are you doing over there!" she heard a voice shout from behind her. Yellow turned around fast and found herself face to face with professor Poplar. "Oh, it's just you again. Where'd you go yesterday?"

"Oh, uhh, well", Yellow struggled to explain.

"Never mind, I have work to do", the professor said impatiently, unlocking the door to the lab.

As soon as she set foot in the lab, an alarm started blaring loud enough to scare a loudred. "I've told that boy a thousand and one times 'when you go out early, set the alarm!'" She punched a few numbers into an alarm box by the door, and the sound stopped.

"Umm", Yellow started, stepping into the lab, "I think he's still asleep".

The professor looked up from her clip board for a second, and check the bed room that Yellow saw from the outside, "Nope, he must have just stuffed the blankets with leaves again as a practical joke, or a bad attempt at one. If he were asleep the entire building would shake as he snored".

"Oh", said Yellow, "Then where is he?"

"He's spent the past few days training a jesincha in a clearing not far north of here".

"A what?" Yellow had never heard of the pokémon before.

Poplar looked at her as if she asked what french-fries were. "The Royal Fire pokémon; they are like wurmple or caterpie, but they're yellow, and have three spikes on their head that look like a crown. Oh, and they usually carry a dried leaf on their back, kind of like a cape".

"Oh", Yellow was reminded of the pokémon she saw the day before.

"As professor of the region, I was given the privilege of naming and classifying it" She added, a little too proudly.

"Right… Well, I'm going to see if I can find him, okay?"

"As long as you don't bother my research, you can go catch Etera for all I care".

"What in the name of Mew is 'Etera'?" Yellow asked.

"What's a 'Mew'", Poplar asked back.

They both stared at one another in silence for a minute. "Okay, I'm going to find Red now" Yellow finally announced, leaving.

She walked past the lab for a while, until she found a clearing. "This must be what she was talking about", Yellow said to herself. She gently walked forward, careful not to crack a leaf, or snap a stick, in fear that it would make a loud noise. And after about a minute of a slugma's pace walk, she came to the edge of the clearing, just behind a tree.

As she reached the tree, she could hear something, the distinct sound of a pokémon battle. And the sound of the battler, issuing commands to a pokémon, "Tackle it, Jesincha!"

She took a second to calm down; as her heart was beating fast than she thought it could. Her blood rushed with excitement and fear. This was it; this was her chance to tell Red the truth. She slowly turned, and glanced into the clearing from her tree, and there he stood; the boy she loved, less than twenty feet away from her. And instantly she turned away with only one thing on her mind, 'Gotta get away from here. I-I'll tell him tomorrow! Yeah, I can put it off just one more day'.

All of a sudden her pokégear rang, and her hand bolted to it, to silence it as quickly a she could. Once it was silent, she looked around waited a moment, listening, but Red seemed to have not noticed at all, as she still heard a battle going on, so she slowly walked away from the clearing, as gentle as she was when she walked over, and once she was at a good distance she answered it.

"Hello?" she whispered into the phone.

"Hey Yellow, it's Blue", Blues voice rang back, "Have you told him yet?"

"I'm about to; just… give me another day".

"Another day? Did he go to another city of something and you can't find him?"

"No, it's just… well difficult. I'll tell him soon though!"

"Have you even talked to him yet?"

"Well, no. But-" Blue cut her off.

"Well, you tell him right now, or I'm going to call him and tell him myself!"

"But Blue!" Blue had already hung up.

Yellow sighed, and she walked back toward the clearing, praying she could build up the courage to tell him. She reached the edge of the clearing, where she stopped and hesitated. She still hadn't been seen by Red. She could still turn away, and not have to face him. But if she did then Blue would reveal her secret which would only be worse. So she pushed forward, and took her first steps into the clearing.

"H-h-h-hey R-red!" she called to him, so weekly even she couldn't hear the words, let alone Red. She swallowed deeply, and said again, "H-hey Red!"

He turned when he heard her voice. "Y-yellow! What are you doing here?" He returned his pokémon to its pokeball and walked over to her.

"Oh, there was j-just something I wanted to tell you", she hardly could keep her voice strait.

"And you had to come all the way out here?" he asked, confused.

"Well sort of… It's complicated, and it's hard to say. It's just t-that… well", she couldn't say it.

Red's phone rang suddenly, and Yellow had a pretty good idea of who it might be. Red reached for it, and lifted it to his ear.

Yellow was terrified. Red was about to answer his phone and Blue was about to tell him about her feelings, and she couldn't stop it. She did the first thing that came to mind, and jumped towards him, pulling him into an embrace, and occupying his lips with her own.

And she held him like that for what seemed an eternity; an unbelievable, joyful eternity. Red had no clue what had happened at first, he froze, dumbstruck, but after a while, he caught on, and he kissed back. When she finally loosened her grip around him, she was able to speak again, perfectly steady, "That's what I wanted to tell you. I like you".

They both smiled at one another for a minute, with no sound around them but the bird pokémon chirping, and wind rustling through the leaves. And this silence was broken up by a voice over Red's phone, a very not-Blue sounding voice, and they were both confused by it. Red lifted the phone to his ear and said, "Hello?"

A loud, recognisable southern accent of a certain computer genius said back, "Red, your PC box is full!" And then they hung up.

Red and Yellow stared at one another for a moment, blank expressions on their faces, until they both burst out laughing. Their first laugh together, as a couple.

_Well, there it is. They're together, and happy. In case it wasn't very obvious, at the end, the call was from Bill, and if anyone remembers the old school, Gameboy Color games, Bill would always call you and tell you your box was full, instead of just changing it, so I thought I'd through in a little joke about that._

_Also, credit for the name 'Jesincha' goes to Music Intuition, she came up with it, and I liked it, so… yeah, make sense enough?_

_And now I'd like to thank everyone who's supported this story by following it, and leaving reviews along the way. (SS19), Music Intuition, Splitheart1120, PenguinOverlord (greatest pen name evar!), Last Genesis, RunningwithWolves11, The 666th necrophiliac,_ and _AmazingAzn. Also, my beta reader who stopped this from getting a world record (most spelling mistakes) who will remain nameless because if I put it he'd probably delete it in editing anyway. Seriously, I couldn't have done it without you guys' inspiration and support!_

_But wait, aren't I getting a head of myself here? Yup. Sure Yellow and Red are together, but what's going on in Viridian forest? And what about Mew? And are Blue and Green still fighting? Well, two more chapters to go, so don't unsubscribe just yet ^.^_


	9. The forest

_Hey guys, I was going to put this off a bit longer because of exams and all, but then I got a review asking for the update soon, I have some time on my hands (wow, wouldn't it be cool to hold the physical essence of time?), and I don't think (no, I do not think) this chapter will be too long, so sit back and prepare your good reviews xD (JK, bad review are fine too as long as you make good points and don't just flame), for the penultimate chapter of 'Courage'_

_Oh, and I know I promised fan art, so here is fan (no art because it sucks dX): __.com/#/d3fonms_

_Yeah, not great, but I did my best, and some people might find it a little cute… maybe?... please._

_Anyway (gosh darn nabbit cheese sticks [gosh darn nabbit cheese sticks?] I say 'anyway' too much) on with the fic!_

_Disclaimer: Let's try a political joke this time: I do believe fandom can be t-take, and changed, and edited with programs to look like something different, and I can't say for sure that this isn't like that- (If you got the joke, you have to review. It's my law! ^.^)_

_Hobby ho!_

_XXXXXXX_

The sun sprinkled some morning sunlight into the depths of Viridian Forest. A few days had passed since Lance last spoke with Yellow, and the darkness within the oasis had yet to fade. Even at midday, when the sun was centered immediately above the trees, the shadows would not wash away, and they'd only grown darker since it began.

Lance had been fighting to protect it since the night he saved Yellow. But the battles had worn not only on his pokemon, but on him. With the tree dying, his own powers began to fade, starting with his healing; and then his own strength, even standing had become quite the challenge. Now both he and his dragons just had to continue to fight until it was over or they died on the battle field, there was no other option, and the ladder seemed more and more likely with each passing hour.

He pulled himself outside his tent for the day. Luckily the pokemon seemed to stick to their natural sleeping habits, so the only things in the area at night were some weaker zubat. He sent out his Aerodactyl and Dragonite, their purpose being in their ability to fly; since Lance couldn't keep an eye on the whole surrounding area at once, those two effectively kept back the weaker pokemon around, while Lance with two dragonair and Gyarados guarded against more powerful swarms.

'I have a bad feeling today', Lance told his pokemon mentally, one of the few powers he still had, 'hold a keen eye, and conserve your strength. This may be difficult'. His pokemon nodded, and Dragonite and Aerodactyl took flight, and started circling overhead. Lance focused what little strengths of the forest he still had to sense where the most wild pokemon were, then ran off after them with Gyarados and the dragonair at heel.

Xxxxx

Those early hours always went by the same. Most just smaller pokemon from within Viridian forest and some from the surrounding area came by, occasionally one of the fast onix from mount moon would burrow its way into the battle field, only to collapse to a surf attack. It wasn't until early afternoon that the real battles began, and today they would be tough ones.

"Aerodactyl, wing attack!" Lance commanded as a rhydon charged its way into the clearing. Aerodactyl swept down, and struck the ground type pokemon's legs with its wing, tripping it. "There are more on the northern side, go cover there!" he said to the fossil pokemon. Aerodactyl flew off to guard there.

"Gyarados, you stay here!" he said to the water pokemon who couldn't leave the area anyway, as it was the only part of the woods surrounding the tree that had a small river. "Dragonair, you go check the south entrance!" The dragonair obeyed and headed for their destination. "Dragonite!" he called his most powerful pokemon down from the sky then jumped onto its back. "My friend, my powers maybe be weak now", he whispered to the pokemon, "but I can still sense them coming; the birds must be stopped".

The two took to the skies, and surveyed the area, Dragonite staring as far as he could with his strong eyes, and Lance focusing to sense the power. "There/Gryrr!" they both found them at the same time, still a long distance away, but they had to slow them down as much as they could. The dragon champion and his loyal companion charged forward. Soon the three foes were easily visible, Moltres, Zapdos, and the biggest threat for them, Articuno.

The attacks started to rain at them; flamethrowers, thunder bolts, and ice beams all at once. Dragonite swerved to the left and right, narrowly dodging the attacks with the experience of a million hard fought battles behind it.

"Waterfall!" Lance said once they were in striking distance. Dragonite made a sharp turn up, and before any of the birds could react, came crashing down onto Moltres with a torrent of water around him. Dragonite brought the fire bird close to the ground, but before he could finish of the first of the legendary birds, a sharp bolt went through him, giving Moltres the chance to break free of the attack. Dragonite couldn't stop now, so it crashed into the ground, then forced itself to its feet again and took flight.

"That was too risky for an attack", Lance said, "We should keep in mind that there are three opponents, we can't attack one if we're just going to be blindsided by the others". Dragonite nodded in agreement.

When they got back into the sky they found the birds had already left them, moving closer and closer toward the clearing. Lance and Dragonite gave chase, and once they closed most of the gap, shot a fire blast at Articuno from behind. None of the birds saw it coming and it landed a direct hit, sending Articuno to the trees below.

"Okay, that's the biggest threat gone, now we just have to finish off these two". The other two birds had turned around, waiting for Lance to make the next move. He and Dragonite were still charging forward. He waited until they were just a few feet away from the fire and electric parts of the trio, then ushered his command, "Dragon tail, now!" Dragonite swung its tail at Moltres, and flung the pokemon back, away from the clearing, giving them some time to focus on just Zapdos.

Each side launch a barrage of attack, thunder bolts, dragon pulses, and even simple strikes, but throughout it all Lance could tell that they were still inching towards the tree; they had to finish it here. Dragonite quickly dodged another electrically charges talon from Zapdos, as he flew above it. "Dragonite, use one last waterfall!" Lance shouted, and quickly Dragonite's eye began to glow white, and its body encased in water, then it came down of Zapdos, driving them both towards the ground.

'This is it', Lance thought, 'once Zapdos is out, Moltres will be easy enough to finish off, and it couldn't be much longer until Yellow straitens out her problems, we can protect the forest until then-'

His thought process was cut short as they were hit by an ice beam, and thrown to the side, collapsing beneath the trees. "Wh-what hit use!" Lance asked, looking around. He looked to the sky to see Articuno flying overhead again. "It got back up!" Moltres was right behind his icy brother, and Zapdos had been saved by the attack, and quickly took flight to join the others.

"We have to chase them, there's still time!" Lance said, looking to his pokemon. He quickly noticed Dragonite's side had been badly hurt, fresh blood flowing from a wound. "Ahh", he gasped and placed his hands around the injury. "I –I can't heal it", he said, trying his best to focus on it, "my powers have grown too weak".

He looked up to see the bird enter the clearing, now nothing but a few dozen meters between them and the tree. "Well, I guess that's it then", he smiled, "My mission was a complete failure". He solemnly closed his eyes, but they sprung open again when Lance heard a powerful boom. He was mystified as her gazed upon the tree, the shadow which plagued it vanishing, and it dying greenery springing to life again. A powerful pulse, unlike any he'd seen before went out around the clearing, throwing the legendary birds back, like the million golden arms of Arceus themselves shielding the tree. And the pokemon in the surrounding area who were rushing to try to reach it, instantly calming down, and losing interest.

"It-it's over?" Lance asked. He smiled, looking down, "She did it, Yellow de Viridian Grove, you did it didn't you?"

He felt his powers flow through him again, and placed his hands around Dragonite's wound, healing it. Dragonite rolled over then stood up, Lance jumping onto its back. "…It's over. But it's an odd feeling. I'm not angry that I lost. In fact, I feel happy. Happy that there is another viridian trainer out there who protected this forest when I failed".

_xxxxxxx_

_Well, I think that went well. I put a lot of effort into some particular lines in it, and I'm contented. What did you guys think? REVIEW!_

_Yeah, no jokes or cuteness here, but really, do you want me to turn this into a funny chapter, because personally, I say no._

_Oh, btw, I can't take credit for the first half of the last line. See if you can figure out why ^.^_

_And of course, one chapter to go, resolving all that's left, and being super cute because of special shipping etc… Well, see you guys then!_


	10. The end

_Well… it's been good, and I want to, one last time, thank all my readers; all those who've reviewed; all those who've just enjoyed this story and stuck with it. Nine chapters, seven months, 17225 words, 3338 hits, and a total of 32 reviews to get here! It's time to close it off are you ready?_

_Warning, this may be a little to fluffy/sappy cute at times, but so is special shipping in general._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon Special, or any of the characters in this story. I only own the plot, and the words I write._

_Hobby ho,_

_XXXXXXX_

Blue woke up, as alone as she made herself. Green, she knew, was in a room a few doors down; that was his fault, he refused to share a room with her.

She stared at the ceiling, thinking about how he'd ruined their relationship. 'He won't bother to be near me', or, 'he doesn't care about us', those were the words that went through her head a-million-and-one times in the past few days.

Eventually she turned her head to her bed side table. A bracelet set on it, with diamonds lining the links, and a small sapphire sitting on the top. It was extravagant and expensive; just the kind of jewellery she liked. Yet it hurt her to look at it, and tears stared to form in her eyes. That was the bracelet she forced Green to buy her the other day, he said it looked perfect on her. After he bought it she snatch it away, and left him there, she didn't forgive him, he hadn't made things right.

She tore her eyes away from the thing before she started crying, and looked the other way. There was an envelope resting on her blankets. She reached out slowly, and picked it up, ripping open the top, and pulling out a hand written letter.

Dear Blue,

I'm sorry, I've been a fool to let you go. You gave me all the warning I needed, and I was stubborn. I've just been scared to be with you… I've been worried about what might happen if I lost you. I've felt like it's my responsibility to keep out relationship from going too fast, but I shouldn't. I know I love you, and I believe you love me, so I should accept it.

I've told the hotel to cancel your room, so tonight we can be together.

Sincerely err, Love, Green

Blue stared at the letter for a half hour after reading it. She couldn't believe it, he really did care for her, and there was even a smudge from a tear drop in a corner. 'He… does know. He does understand', she thought.

She hugged the letter tightly, smiling, tears of… joy? No, tears of love swimming down her face. "I knew he'd come around eventually".

"I guess he must have been paying attention to me to have learned how to break in here to leave this letter". She looked at the door to see four holes in it, roughly the size of machamp's fists.

"…". She looked back to the letter and flipped it over to see more on the other side. 'PS. Don't worry about the door, I'll pay for it.'

Xxxxx

Yellow and Red landed back in Kanto, north of Cerulean. The trip took them a full day on Red's Aero, and they used half the time for Yellow to tell Red about what happened, including about Mew, and the other half to stare into one another's eyes as they fell asleep in each other's arms.

Once they were on the ground, Red hopped off, and then held his arms out to catch Yellow. She blushed and she slid of the Aerodactyl into Red's arms, but smiled as she felt safe with him. He returned the pokemon, and held her in his arms a little longer.

After what might as well have been millennia for Yellow, she finally said, "I think you can put me down now".

"Oh, okay", Red lowered her to her feet, blushing a little. "I guess you still have to go heal Mew, don't you?"

"_We_, have to", Yellow corrected him. "And I don't think I'm the only one who's happy to see you, Green missed you too, and I'm sure Blue did. I'm going to call them".

"Okay", Red agreed.

Yellow pulled her pokégear out of her pocket, and dialled Blue's number. "Hello", a male voice answered.

"Um, hello", Yellow replied, "Is Blue there?"

"Oh, Yellow, you're back?" This time Yellow recognized the male voice as Green.

"Oh, yeah, me and Red just got back now. We just wanted to tell you guys".

"That's good to know. I'll pass the phone to Blue".

Yellow heard some fumbling and what she could swear was the sound of a kiss, before Blue's voice rang through the receiver. "Hey, Yellow, you're back?"

"Yeah, and Red came back too".

"So you told him!" Blue screamed in a way that could only be described as fan-girlish. "That's great, I have to start planning double dates right away!"

"So I guess that means you and Green are back together?" Yellow giggled awkwardly. "That's good".

"Yeah, once he realized he was being silly and childish, and that I was right as usual, he caved. I even got a _very_ expensive bracelet out of it". She made the bracelet chime through the phone, and Yellow heard a faint, "Annoying woman", from Green.

"That's great! We'll see you in a bit; Red and I just have to take care of some stuff first".

"Ho ho, I know what you mean. You kids have fun, but not too much fun now".

Yellow blushed furiously. "That's not what I mean!" she cover the phone, praying Red hadn't heard, though even if he did, he probably wouldn't understand what she meant. "Mew is kinda injured over in Cerulean cave, and we have to go heal him… or is it her? Well yeah, we have to heal Mew".

"Oh, in that case I have to ask to join in. Green will come too; it'll be our very first double date!" Blue announced, surprisingly with no complaint from Green.

"I didn't know you cared that much about seeing Mew feeling better", Yellow admitted, feeling more respect for her friend.

"Oh, well seeing it feel better will be all well and dandy, but I'm concerned with snapping a few pictures. My last set sold for about 10,000 yen each, and those weren't even good photos!"

"Yeah…" Yellow instantly felt that respect drain. "Well, we're up near Bill's cottage now, so fly over soon. That is, if you didn't sell Charizard".

"No, I never got the chance to. We'll be over soon". Yellow heard some more fumbling then a, "Common honey, we have errands to run!" Followed by a, "Don't call me honey", from Green. Then the phone hung up.

Yellow turned back to Red and walked into his embrace. "They're coming to join us". Yellow told him.

"Well, even if they're taking Charizard, we should have at least an hour together", he said, "We may as well enjoy it".

She smiled up at him, then push up on her tip toes to start kissing him.

Xxxxx

Not too long later the four Kanto dex holders were crawling around and sneaking through the narrow passages of Cerulean cave. Yellow took the lead since she had to use her powers to sense were Mew was, though it was a weak signal, and even with it the cave was near impossible to navigate.

Red stood barely an inch behind her at all times. After hearing about her last trip in the cave, he wasn't going to risk her getting hurt no matter what, even if she could calm the wild pokemon with her powers.

A few feet behind them, Blue and Green followed; Blue just a little bit ahead carrying a camera. Green was being forced to carry some lighting supplies.

"So, I assume a bit of the money you plan to make from these photos is going to go into helping me pay the new mortgage I have for that jewellery?", he asked sarcastically.

"What? Of course not! Don't be silly" she said.

Green sighed, then smiled happily as he said, "Pesky girl".

Up ahead, Yellow and Red came up to the bottom end of a cliff. "Um, I can sense Mew just at the top of that", Yellow said. "Maybe we can find a quick way around".

"No", Red said, "I can climb this".

"Yeah, but there's no way I can!" Yellow explained.

"I can give you a piggy back", Red offered.

Yellow blushed at the thought of being that close to him. She thought of how much Mew needed help, she could hardly feel its strength at this point, and they might not be able to find another way up fast enough. And not only that, but a part of her was excited at the idea of holding onto Red like that.

She felt the same as when she was trying to admit her feelings for him, left than a few dozen hours ago, nervous, scared, excited. She knew she had to say 'yes', but the words didn't come easy. But she'd learned from that, and she gathered up some courage.

She held back her blush as much as she could, then said, "Yeah… okay".

She climbed on his back and held tight. Once she was ready, Red jumped up to the first rock he could reach, making Yellow lurch forward, her chest pressing against his back. She blushed deeply as it did, and she could even see the back of Red's ears slowly match his name.

It wasn't a long climb, but it took some time. Yellow had her arms wrapped as tightly as she could around Red's shoulders, not because she was scared of falling, she couldn't be scared of anything with Red this close to her, but because she wanted to be this close to him, she enjoyed having her arms around him.

As Red pulled them over the top, Yellow recognized the tunnel in front of them as the same one she had left Mew. She got to her feet as Red caught his breath, and followed the faint signal she felt; Mew's life.

She walked into the small cave where she'd left the poor pokemon, lying on the yellow cloth she left it for a bed, and resting its head upon the straw hat it had for a pillow. Its breathing was so weak, she couldn't even hear it, just feel it; pain pushing through its body with every breath. Yellow watch in terror at how she could have left this creature, of how she couldn't do anything to help in last time she been here.

Red ran up behind her, quickly followed by Blue and Green. "Yellow", Red said, "…that's Mew?"

"Red, you've seen it before, you should recognize it", Blue told him.

"Yeah, but it was moving around then, it was more… alive", Red explained. "Does it have much longer?"

"Not if we don't help fast", Yellow said. She grabbed his hand, and gently pulled him forward with her. They stood together in front of Mew, and Yellow lifted one hand, and pressed it cautiously against its side. She looked to Red and he hesitantly followed suit, pressing his hand against hers. A white light began to brighten up the dark cave, illuminating from Red and Yellow's hands. And the light grew brighter and brighter, until none of the dex holders could even keep their eyes open.

Once the light was gone and Yellow and Red were able to open their eyes again, they saw Mew, floating above the stone it had been resting on, dancing back and forth through the air.

"Ah!" Yellow smiled, "We did it! We did it!"

Red looked to her, and covered her hand with his fingers. "You did it, I just helped you get over that cliff", he said.

Mew danced around them, and they both watched in awe. It spun and floated in the air above them, giving off a pink aura.

"Pass me the camera!" Blue shouted to Green.

"Y- You're the one carrying it", a little dumbfounded by the fantastic scene before him.

"Oh, right". Blue fumbled around with the machine, while Mew bounced up and down on top of Red's head, making Yellow giggle.

It spun around, and then flew right in between the two lovers, Red and Yellow. Their eyes following it as it did, but resting on one another in the middle. They leaned in closer, held and embrace, and a kiss.

"I love you Red", Yellow said. She began to blush at the words, but managed to find the strength to admit openly and proudly, without even the slightest tint appearing on her face.

"I love you too", he said.

"Aww, you two love bird are so cute together~", a certain girl's sing song voice interrupted. "See what happens when you just tell him the truth Yellow?"

"Hey, some privacy please!" Yellow yelled at her.

"Yeah, yeah. We're leaving now. Mew left, and I've gotta find a buyer for these pictures. Though I think you two would be interested in taking this one off my hands now?" She tossed them one photo of them kissing. "We'll work out the payment later. Come on Green, I expect you to have dinner plans ready for us by the time we get back to Viridian".

"Yes_ honey_", he teased as she walked back through the tunnel. Then he turned to Red. "Don't try leaving again. It's just makes everyone upset". He handed Red Poli and Saur's pokéballs, and the pokemon in them looked relieved to see their master again. "Oh, and sorry about any make up you find on Poli, I tried to stop it".

Red grabbed the pokéballs and put them back un his belt. Then nodded to Green, "Thanks".

Without another word, Green walked down the tunnel after Blue, leaving the two special shippers alone, and happy.

_Xxxxx_

_,and so we go…_


End file.
